~ 19 Years Ago ~
A week had passed since Frid's encounter with one of the "Daughters of Carmen". Since then, he'd started going off into the deeper parts of town. All kept secret from his mother, of course.
"You're late." Sat atop what appeared to be a rundown shack was the very girl he'd met that day—Daphne Klein. "We agreed on meeting at noon."
"I know," Frid said, walking toward the rusting green door that served as an entrance to the shack. "I'm being careful. I'm not even supposed to be here with you."
Daphne jumped down, turning around and kicking the door open with a loud thud. Beyond the entrance, stairs leading downward were revealed. She turned just her head to look back at him.
"Right," she said mockingly. "Let's get going, Mother's Little Knight."
---
Brun never claimed to be the wisest man alive, but he was also damn sure that he wasn't dull. He stared blankly at the raven-haired woman standing beside him as he tried to water his plants. This reeked of trouble. The kind where he wouldn't know peace for a long while.
"You came here to report that your son has been quiet...?"
"I said he was too quiet," Mirena shot back. "You know him. He attracts all sorts of trouble. Miraculously, he hasn't gotten involved with anything too dangerous so far, but—"
"You're worried he might," Brun finished off, putting his watering spout down and turning fully towards her. "So what do you want?"
Mirena awkwardly fidgeted, entirely avoiding his gaze.
"I just want advice."
"Bullshit." Again, Brun wasn't a fool. He knew better than to believe that anyone in this city came to him for anything other than some form of physical labour. "What do you want?"
Mirena struggled a bit more before finally deciding to just be frank.
"Could you just check around to make sure Frid isn't going to places he shouldn't be at—or more importantly, doing things he shouldn't be doing?"
The man's mind automatically defaulted to the answer he most wanted to give: a blatant, resounding no. While opening his mouth to say just that, he caught sight of the top of an old windmill. Gritting his teeth in frustration at himself, he picked up his hat and walked back to his house.
"I'll do what I can."
Mirena's eyes lit up before she gave a deep bow.
"Thank you so much!"
Brun settled into his hammock, covering the top half of his face with his hat and chewing on a piece of straw as he swayed gently for a few hours. All the while, he thought back to when he was younger, and the citizens of Gatz had the conviction to change their city. The hearts of hundreds of thousands of people, and it all fell apart because of three people.
"Now I'm supposed to chase after the brat of one of those bastards..." He spat the straw out of his mouth. "What a joke this life is."
"Messages travel through all the plant life of this world. We just can't hear it."
"What the hell are you on about?" Brun responded to the man who remained as unreadable as ever.
"I'm thinking that if all these plants share some kind of common factor, and they communicate and help each other," the man continued, completely ignoring Brun. "Why can't we?"
Brun blinked, trying to comprehend the words he had just spoken.
"Are you really saying that as the person who just started a violent war against the Roses?" he asked incredulously, wondering if the irony was lost on the man.
"If you put it like that, I really do seem like the wrong messenger." The man laughed. Whether it was at himself, his actions, or his words, the gardener didn't know. "But, in a way, I think it makes me the perfect person to say it."
"And why is that?" Brun grumbled out.
"Because I've received and given violence and it's left me feeling nothing but grief."
Brun had nothing he could say to that.
"The world is a village, Brun. And we all have a part to play in keeping it beautiful for us all." The man plucked a leaf from the lone tree in front of his house. "That includes cutting out all the petty scrambles among ourselves."
"People are too self-centred for that. You'd have better luck trying to clear out the Haze than trying to get people to stop hurting each other."
"You're not wrong..."
Brun jumped up from his place of rest. Grumbling all the way as he left his home. Beginning his journey to the best starting place for looking into troublesome matters.
'Maybe I am a fool.' He angrily kicked a pebble away, drawing looks from others who walked past. "Bastard up and left, and I'm cleaning up after him to this day..."
---
- With Frid and Daphne -
Hordes of people were packed into the underground space, everyone clearly seeking the rush from the activity that took place here. Cage fights.
Scattered about the whole place were twelve platforms, each surrounded by wire fences. Giant lights—the only sources of light here—hung over them.
Frid felt overwhelmed by the rush of sensations.
"Hey, I think I'm going to go," Frid said, wincing as he clutched his head.
Daphne looked at him incredulously.
"On your first time here?" She grabbed him by his wrist and brought him in front of one of the cages. "Not a chance. The street scuffles you've gotten into over the last week are one thing, but this—this is where the real deal is."
She stopped speaking, noticing his visible discomfort. She knew about his "special condition" and that it applied to his senses as well. Realising how loud and smelly it was, especially, she let out a sigh.
"Look. If you really want, we can go," she said, biting back her disappointment.
Frid looked at her, partially in surprise, before deciding to stick through it for a little bit longer.
"We can stay," he said, watching her face perk up. "Tell me, though. Why this cage? Does it have anything to do with the colour?"
After taking a few breaths to collect himself, Frid had finally noticed what was right in front of him. The platform was bigger than some of the others he had seen in passing as they entered, and everything—from the wire cage to the ground the fighters would stand on was bloody crimson.
A smug look appeared on Daphne's face.
"You're smarter than you seem, Mother's Knight," she said, ignoring Frid's light protest at the use of the nickname as she continued. "This specific cage is reserved for fights involving the Roses."
"Ah," Frid responded simply, nodding his head.
The Roses was the official name of the group comprised solely of the "Daughters of Carmen". Essentially, it was a crew of female descendants of the Carmen tribe. They took significant pride in their ancestry, and since Gatz was the place of origin of the Carmens, they were particularly devoted to conquering it all one day.
"So one of your friends is going to be fighting?"
"Sisters," Daphne corrected. "And yes, it shouldn't take too long now."
A particularly loud round of cheers broke out from a nearby platform, causing Frid to wince once more. He looked at his red-haired companion only to find her glaring in the direction of the other cage.
"You okay?"
Daphne snapped out of it.
"Yeah..." Noticing Frid's curious expression, she gave an explanation. "That cage is sort of like this one, except it belongs to the Vipers. You know who they are, right?"
"Of course I do," Frid replied, recalling his mother's lectures on everyone he should be avoiding... as he stood next to a member of the number one group he was supposed to stay away from.
Six to seven years ago, Gatz had been locked into a three-way stalemate between the Roses, the Vipers and a neutral force. The town remained split up between these factions to this day. Granted, the third barely had any territory and mostly comprised the eastern outskirts and some bits of the city around that area.
Out of nowhere, Daphne began smacking Frid in the back repeatedly, and while it didn't hurt, he did feel it quickly becoming a bother.
"Don't worry, and straighten up. In a bit, you won't have to worry about noise," Daphne said, a proud smile creeping onto her face. "The sister of mine that's fighting today doesn't like noise either. When she gets here, she'll shut this place right up."
---
- Carmen's Cradle (The Roses' Base) -
Brun sat on a cushion on the floor, looking up at three red-haired women.
It hadn't been long since he arrived, and already he wanted nothing more than to leave. The woman in the middle he recognised all too well. She was the Crimson Witch, the one who had brought together the Roses under the shared identity of the Daughters of Carmen. Just taking in her regal appearance and calm demeanour, it was easy to discount all the stories of how insane she was, even for him, who had experienced it firsthand.
"To what do we owe the pleasure of this meeting, Mister Mayor?" The words sounded respectful, but her tone and posture clearly portrayed the opposite.
This was the reality. The "Mayor" was just another potential corpse in the current Gatz. He held no real power and only barely mediated between the factions to uphold the peace—if you could even call it that. The only person who had held these monsters at bay was long gone. Brun somewhat entertained the idea of the man's son taking his place, considering how much he liked getting into it with people, but had to remind himself that the boy was only five.
"I'm looking into the activities of a child," he said, trying his best to stay measured and collected. "I'm sure you at least know of him. The Forest Keeper's kid."
The leader of the Roses couldn't help but flinch at the mention of that man's epithet. She quickly frowned afterwards. Strumming her fingers against the arm of her chair, she shot glances at the two standing guard for her, silently asking if they had heard or seen anything. Seeing them shake their heads, she turned back to Brun.
"Be more specific. What would he be doing exactly?" She had entirely dropped any pretence of respect at this point, irritated from recalling things she'd rather keep forgotten.
Brun stared silently for a moment, sipping the tea he'd been provided in a clay cup.
"He tends to get into fights with people," he said, placing the cup in front of himself. "So that could be a start for looking into him."
For the first time in a long while, he saw the Crimson Witch laugh, breaking her usual frost-like demeanour. Even the two guards, faces covered by masks, seemed taken aback at how heartily their venerable Lady was cackling.
He was unsure what set her off, but all Brun knew was that he felt even more unsafe. These were the kind of people to smile in your face, then kill you brutally. He didn't think even they knew what would follow this expression of mirth.
"Sorry," she said, wiping tears from her eyes. "It's just funny that his child of all people would be brawling like the common street thugs."
Brun blinked, realising that it was quite the twist of fate if you really thought about it, but dismissing the thought of engaging in that conversation in favour of exiting while his life and health were still intact.
"Please do let me know if you see or hear something."
The leader of the red-haired troupe smiled, reading his intentions and waving him off to permit him to leave.
"Will do, Mister Mayor."
As soon as he walked out of the red and golden hall, she turned to the two guards.
"Find the boy," she said in a flat tone. "If you can, bring him to me without hurting him. We don't want problems with the Forest Keeper's wife."
---
- With Frid and Daphne -
Just as she had said it would, the room went completely silent as a long procession of extravagantly dressed redheads came through.
"That's her," Daphne said, her voice possessing a mix of pride and reverence. "My sister, Sephonia."
Hearing the familiar voice in the hushed room, the Daughters of Carmen turned to look at their youngest.
"If it isn't little Daphne," Sephonia spoke, her tone much warmer than Frid had expected it would be. The air around her changed as she turned to look at him, her violet eyes piercing into his very being. "Who's this?"
Daphne stepped in front of Frid, covering him from her sight.
"Sister, please stop. He's my friend."
Frid and the collective of the Roses blinked at that.
"Friend?" They all asked in unison.
Daphne turned to look back at Frid with a deadpan expression, fighting back a sense of irritation she felt building up.
"Why exactly are you surprised?"
Before Frid could respond, Sephonia cut in.
"Hmm, okay then," she said, her eyes seemingly breaking the boy apart and analysing him. "You've got an interesting friend there, Daphne. I find myself wanting to get to know him a little as well, after this."
Having said her piece, she turned and walked into the cage. Discarding some of the flashy robes that she wore and entrusting them to one of the others, she settled into the far right of the platform, now garbed in just a gold embroidered black battle dress that made it to just above her knees.
"Where's the opponent?" Frid asked, looking around the room for any sign of them.
Daphne puffed up her chest. "Maybe they got cold feet and ran off. Sis Sephonia is just that strong after all."
Just then, the doors of the underground opened up, and a tall, pale man skulked through the crowd. He climbed up onto the platform, rubbing his eyes, which had deep black bags under them. Smiling at whom he recognised to be his opponent, he waved as if greeting an old friend. Frid couldn't help but shiver from the feeling the man gave off.
"I think your sister should be careful with this one."
Daphne shot him a glare at the suggestion that Sephonia could be in any danger. She was about to go off on him when she noticed the gravely serious expression on her sister's face. She swallowed hard, clasping her hands as if she were praying.
And in an instant, the combatants rushed at each other.